Sexual and physical abuse in childhood is associated with depression and anxiety over the life course: systematic review and meta-analysis

To determine whether depression and anxiety in adulthood are associated with abuse exposure in childhood.A search of PUBMED, EMBASE and PSYCHINFO databases (2002–2012) was supplemented by hand searches of bibliographies of articles and reviews. We included studies contrasting abuse exposure vs. no-abuse exposure before age 16 years to depression and anxiety after age 16 years. Data on sample and exposure and outcome instruments, covariates and...